Way Too Early Rockets Roster Projection

One preseason game in and all is well with the Houston Rockets. Alperen Sengun continues his offseason dominance, first with Eurobasket and then with one half against the Atlanta Hawks. Kevin Durant is set to make his debut Wednesday and most everyone is completely healthy.

If the season ended today, the Rockets would be in the postseason!

We kid. Point is, it is one of four preseason games in and we really don’t know what this team is going to be. We can guess they will be quite good, maybe even championship caliber. But, at this point, who can speculate? We can!

Let’s start with a much, much too early look at the 15-man roster because we have time on our hands and nothing to worry about…yet.

STARTERS

Alperen Sengun
Kevin Durant
Amen Thompson
Jabari Smith, Jr.

Coach Ime Udoka has basically said these four will be in the lineup when the ball is tipped in game one. From a purely size and athleticism standpoint, this is going to be a beast for teams to wrangle. The question is whether Thompson will fill the point guard role or remain a wing with someone else starting at the point. The front line of Sengun, Durant and Smith will do damage.

STARTER OPTIONS

Reed Sheppard
Tari Eason
Dorian Finney-Smith

Here is the intrigue. If Sheppard can make a jump from his rookie season, he could fill the shoes of injured guard Fred VanVleet. Interestingly, he has a similar size and style of play to FVV, but in only his second year, he will need to make a lot of progress. If Udoka decides to go with Thompson at the point, expect Eason here to start the season with Finney-Smith possibly getting his way into the starting lineup after fully recovering from offseason ankle surgery. Regardless of who is in the starting five, the other two will be critical components in the Rockets rotation.

KEY RESERVES

Stephen Adams
Clint Capela
Josh Okogie
Aaron Holiday

Adams and Sengun formed the double-big lineup that was so successful toward the end of last season and Udoka intends to continue deploying it, but now with Capela as an added wrinkle, both because he has a different set of skills from Adams and because Adams will not play every game this year. Okogie, who signed with the Rockets as a free agent, might surprise some. He’s a skilled defender with a wide body at just six-foot-four. Holiday hopes to continue his 50-percent-plus three-point shooting from the final third of last season as a safety net at point guard.

FILLING OUT THE BENCH

Jae’Sean Tate
Jeff Green

Tate and Green were part of a trio of Rockets players brought back (including Holiday) both for continuity and skillset. Tate is a spark plug defender who out-hustles virtually everyone on the floor. Green is the solid veteran big man who provides both in-game experience and a solid mentor for the younger players. Neither will play every night (maybe not every week), but they provide quality depth to a team that is pretty loaded on talent.

ON THE BUBBLE

JD Davison
Kevon Harris
Cameron Matthews

Out of the three, Matthews, and unrestricted rookie free agent known for his tenacious defense, probably has the best shot of making the roster since both Harris and Davison are two-way players who can be shuttled back and forth from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. This final spot could also be filled by a veteran if the Rockets sign someone in camp. But, don’t sleep on Davison, the G-League MVP last year. He can straight up shoot the ball as evidenced by his 17 points on 5-7 from deep against the Hawks.

The post Way Too Early Rockets Roster Projection appeared first on Houston Press.